Photos: Facebook updates its location

Facebook's new offices

Facebook held a tour Monday at its new office building in Palo Alto, Calif., and CNET News was there.

The company was previously located in a cramped series of buildings on University Avenue in downtown Palo Alto. The new Facebook headquarters is a massive complex in the foothills near Stanford University, located about 2 miles from downtown.

The development of the office continues to be a work in progress, although the employees are fully moved in. Facebook intends to allow the employees to decide how the building gets used, encouraging people to move furniture, rearranging and transforming the space as they go. The company also has an open policy regarding drawing, writing, and stenciling on the walls.

Room names

Conference rooms were named by the employees working on each floor. After a naming contest on this floor ended in a tie between video games and condiments, a decision was reached to create hybrid names--resulting in conference rooms with names like Guitartar Hero.

Other areas have rooms named after countries, and one area's conference rooms are named after characters on the HBO series "The Wire," which ended its run last year.

Cafeteria

The cafeteria at Facebook churns out meals for the employees all day long, and is also a popular gathering space. Large doors can separate the kitchen and food service area from the dining room, transforming the hall into a large forum for meetings.

Square feet per employee

The new home to Facebook's 700-plus full-time employees is 137,000 square feet--fewer square feet per employee than many offices, but Facebook likes it this way. Keeping the office open and flowing, yet densely populated instigates a better flow of ideas and community involvement, the company says.